The future of the Republican Party

[wrongfrog]

There's been a lot of talk lately about where the Republican Party is headed after this election. I've seen some talk on the forums about this topic even, but I thought it deserved its own thread.
I've heard many people point out that they have to start modifying their social policies to adjust to the growing acceptance of LGBT individuals in the country, as well as their immigration policies, which is the main reason Hispanics don't like them. They also need to start speaking out against idiots like Akin and Mourdock more, if they want to not push away women.

Personally, I don't know if they can do this. I see the Republican Party tearing itself apart soon, and maybe the rise of a third party. I can see the Libertarian Party taking center stage soon, maybe after the 2016 election. I'm not a fan of Libertarians for their economic views, but they are becoming increasingly popular.

I see maybe a split in the Republican Party soon, which could either change it for the better, or send it hurling into oblivion.

This thread is for everyone to discuss their predictions for the future of the GOP. I'm really interested to see what most of you think!

[worlder]

I don't want the Republican party split. Maybe give up a few antiquated philosophies, but I wouldn't wish for split.

[Agni]

My personal opinion is that the GOP will simply lose all relevance and fade from simply being completely backwards and unattractive to most voters.

[ScrappyB]

I won't vote for them until they move more to the center and eject the Randian "fuck the poor" and fundie "American Taliban" elements.

I'd like to see them get back to how the Republican party was before the 60s and they started courting the social conservatives and racists. Worst thing that ever happened to the party.

Get back to being the fiscal conservative, personal liberty party instead of the "run up the deficit and give tax breaks to millionaires" and "let's legislate morality" party. Distance themselves from the Pat Robertson/Rush Limbaugh/Anne Coulter whackjobs.

Unfortunately,  I don't think that will happen without a split. I've heard they're falling into the same trap they did back in 2008, blaming their loss on running a candidate who "isn't conservative enough."

[wrongfrog]

I won't vote for them until they move more to the center and eject the Randian "fuck the poor" and fundie "American Taliban" elements.

I'd like to see them get back to how the Republican party was before the 60s and they started courting the social conservatives and racists. Worst thing that ever happened to the party.

Get back to being the fiscal conservative, personal liberty party instead of the "run up the deficit and give tax breaks to millionaires" and "let's legislate morality" party. Distance themselves from the Pat Robertson/Rush Limbaugh/Anne Coulter whackjobs.

Unfortunately,  I don't think that will happen without a split. I've heard they're falling into the same trap they did back in 2008, blaming their loss on running a candidate who "isn't conservative enough."

The Tea Party area of the GOP definitely won't go down without a fight, it just depends on who wins. If TPers aren't able to take control of the party, they'll probably end up leaving and joining the Constitution Party so they can both be obscure crazies together.

[Material Defender]

I won't vote for them until they move more to the center and eject the Randian "fuck the poor" and fundie "American Taliban" elements.

I'd like to see them get back to how the Republican party was before the 60s and they started courting the social conservatives and racists. Worst thing that ever happened to the party.

Get back to being the fiscal conservative, personal liberty party instead of the "run up the deficit and give tax breaks to millionaires" and "let's legislate morality" party. Distance themselves from the Pat Robertson/Rush Limbaugh/Anne Coulter whackjobs.

Unfortunately,  I don't think that will happen without a split. I've heard they're falling into the same trap they did back in 2008, blaming their loss on running a candidate who "isn't conservative enough."

"Isn't Conservative Enough" is a nebolous, self-affirming prophecy. Essentially, self sealing doom.

[Sylvana]

I doubt the party will split.
America is too dependent on the two party system and anyone with any kind of sense knows that people vote either republican or democrat because that is all they know. There are a lot of hard core republicans who vote republican every time and yet have no actual idea about the policies of the party itself. They always vote republican because the alternative is for them to vote democrat which is too repugnant for them. The concept of 3rd parties never even enters their minds.

Hence anyone within the republican party with even a little political sense, will do everything in their power to keep the republican name because they know that is what people vote for. You may end up with two groups within the republican party tugging in opposite directions but neither will ever abandon the republican name and will join together if that name is ever in jeopardy.

Additionally, the republicans will never fade into irrelevance because there will always be a huge number of people who will always vote republican regardless of principle and philosophy. They seem to be brought up believing that voting republican is the only option and in turn perpetuate this cycle on their own kids. I think the attack adverts are largely to blame for this self repeating system. Remember, despite Obama beating Romney comfortably on the electoral college, he still only barely beat him on popular vote. That means that despite all the downright insane stuff the republicans did and said over the last year or so and their efforts to alienate just about everyone who isn't a rich white male, almost 50% of the country still voted for them.

[Patches]

My guess is we won't see a true collapse of the Republican party until we have another national civil-rights shakeup like the one in the 60's that threw them into disarray in the first place.  The problem is that social conservatives are both always on the wrong side of history, but the easiest voters to court.  Just tell them that you believe in their god and in oppressing whatever the evil demographic of the day is, and you've suddenly got millions of voters staunchly at your side without actually having to do anything.

We kind of saw this with the Tea Party, where a sizable chunk broke away because one of those uppity blacks got in the White House.  However, they tried to break away as a third party, which doesn't work, so most of them remained embedded in the Republican party.  The party ideology swap in the 60's-80's happened because the previously-conservative Democrats became disenfranchised by the passage of civil rights, and opportunistic Republicans courted their votes because, as stated before, they're large in number and easy to manipulate.

So, unfortunately, I think we're always going to have that segment of the population longing for someone to take them back to the time when white male Christians got preferential treatment simply by being white male Christians, and it just depends on who is willing to sacrifice their integrity for the sake of courting their votes.

[rookie]

The republican party isn't going anywhere. The question is are they going to try to be more moderate, maybe a touch more inclusive? Or are they going to try to double down on the bat shit insane conservatism one more time? The 2015 GOP primaries will be interesting. My prediction is a very broad field, running from hard core Reaganite rigidness to center right. But right now I think it's too early to tell which direction they'll take.

[Lt. Fred]

I think the future of the party relies on its base. The trick is going to be discarding long-standing bigotry in order to avoid provoking women and minorities to vote. And that's going to come down to the stupidity of their base. Are they so stupid Big Brother can tell them they've always been at war with Eastasia, and they happily tear down the signs they made proclaiming the opposite? Probably. These people are breathtakingly stupid.

[Old Viking]

Oh, they'll double down, which rookie suggests as an option.  They are, to re-phrase Lt. Fred, spectacularly dumb.  But the real indication of the party's future is clear in photos of political gatherings of any sort.   Republicans: white folks, middle-aged or older, middle class.  Democrats: young, old, in-between, whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, poor, middle class, wealthy.

[VirtualStranger]

Its taken over 40 years, but the Southern Strategy is finally backfiring on the Republicans.

They built this monster long ago, and it's wonderful to see it destroy them.

[Joey]

I'd take libertarians over republicans any day...

[rookie]

Oh, they'll double down, which rookie suggests as an option.  They are, to re-phrase Lt. Fred, spectacularly dumb. 

The more I look at them, the more I think we'll see that doubling down during the midterms. I have a sneaky feeling that the congressional candidates fielded during the midterm is going to deplete our strategic supplies of both popcorn and memes.

[Material Defender]

My guess is we won't see a true collapse of the Republican party until we have another national civil-rights shakeup like the one in the 60's that threw them into disarray in the first place.  The problem is that social conservatives are both always on the wrong side of history, but the easiest voters to court.  Just tell them that you believe in their god and in oppressing whatever the evil demographic of the day is, and you've suddenly got millions of voters staunchly at your side without actually having to do anything.

We kind of saw this with the Tea Party, where a sizable chunk broke away because one of those uppity blacks got in the White House.  However, they tried to break away as a third party, which doesn't work, so most of them remained embedded in the Republican party.  The party ideology swap in the 60's-80's happened because the previously-conservative Democrats became disenfranchised by the passage of civil rights, and opportunistic Republicans courted their votes because, as stated before, they're large in number and easy to manipulate.

So, unfortunately, I think we're always going to have that segment of the population longing for someone to take them back to the time when white male Christians got preferential treatment simply by being white male Christians, and it just depends on who is willing to sacrifice their integrity for the sake of courting their votes.

Well gay rights and drug legalization is heating up, as well as a stronger push towards Universal healthcare. By your theory, they are due to die from their vote pandering.